


Out in the Midday Sun

by gardnerhill



Series: 221b Ficlets by Gardnerhill [41]
Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: 221B Ficlet, Angst, Community: watsons_woes, Gen, Rabies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-06 04:46:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11593236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardnerhill/pseuds/gardnerhill
Summary: Needs must when the devil drives.





	Out in the Midday Sun

**Author's Note:**

> For the 2017 July Watson's Woes Promptfest prompt #23, **’Tis But a Scratch**. We’re called Watson's Woes, folks... Have Watson choose to hide something bad from Holmes, or to minimize it, for whatever reason; it may or may not end well.

I fired point-blank at the poor tortured beast and it finally dropped dead, its blood melting the snow around its head. But the damage was done.

I stared at my bleeding left hand.

Many things raced through my mind at that moment. It is quite true that a man’s mind focuses wonderfully when he knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight.

The closest vaccine was forty-seven miles away, back in London – in the direction of our pursuers. Holmes and I had led them here for a reason, and we had to wait for them to make their appearance. These four men were the last of Moriarty’s team, the final members of the operation, and they would run straight into a trap if we stayed here and waited for them, for however long it took.

I shuddered for a moment. I am a doctor, and I have seen what horrors happen to a person so infected – madness and an agonizing death I would not wish on those men pursuing us, let alone myself.

But I am still a soldier. I know my duty.

I headed back to the snowy shack that was our hideout.

Holmes was still huddled in a dirty horse-blanket. “Watson,” he slurred from the fever. “Gunshot?”

“No rabbits, I’m afraid. Just a dog.” I covered my bite.

**Author's Note:**

> My original response to this 7/1/2016 prompt was [Casualty Clearing Station No. 59](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7358713).


End file.
